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The Rio Madre de Dios swirls in the rainforests of Peru. Oxbow lakes — the U-shaped branches coming off the main river — form when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3fORp0N

-11.888269°, -71.408443°

Source imagery: Maxar

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Located in the southwestern region of Slovakia, Trnava is an old city known for impressive, historic and baroque architectural styles and wine. Amidst this sits Kilo/Honč‘s transformation of a century-old house into a flexible and open home for a young family, aptly named Apartment 1903.

Entry via a private courtyard hints at the spacious and open plan layout. The entrance leads to the kitchen and dining area, calm and abundant in muted tones, except for the presence of luscious green potted plants. The large volumes and airy spaces are deliberate, providing multiple viewpoints from the front to the rear of the apartment in its entirety. Kilo/Honč employed design simplicity to emanate a feeling of joy and delight.

Related: Apartment Svätoplukova in Bratislava by Kilo / Honč.

The apartment floor plan was arranged to be open and flexible. Instead of solid walls, partitions are made up of glazed raw-steel frames and muted grey curtains used to enable a variety of spatial configurations. Intimacy and privacy are achieved when the curtains are drawn, and the interior’s expanse is realised when the curtains are retracted.

The reconstruction and transformation of the 120-year-old structure was based on using geometric forms. This is evident in the high ceilings, steel-reinforced door, wall frames, the shape of the furniture used, and the herringbone flooring pattern. Originated in Europe during the Baroque period, the flooring design pays homage to the original style and the surrounding historical design period.

Related: Trikoupi Apartment in Athens by Point Supreme Architects.

All the furniture was chosen to achieve a sense of cosy atmosphere while emphasising the idea of adaptability instead of solidifying each space with a predetermined function. The u-shaped dining table plays on the concept of entertainment but also provides flexibility as the young family grows. Similarly, the children’s playroom can easily be modified in the future and turned into a bedroom.

Flexible space is the driving force of Apartment 1903. Kilo / Honč added modern and contemporary layers fit for the personalities and lifestyles of the occupants while retaining the timber beam ceiling in homage to the period in which the home was originally built.

Related: Montolivet Apartment Renovation in Lausanne by Bureau Brisson Architectes.

| The article Low Key Love: Apartment 1903 in Trnava, Slovakia by Kilo / Honč. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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The Forbidden City in Beijing, China, took 14 years to build (1406 to 1420) and more than 1 million workers were involved in its construction. The palace complex, which contains 9,999 rooms, is surrounded by walls that are 26 feet (8 meters) high and a 171-foot (52-meter) wide moat.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3xwXC7J

39.914722°, 116.390556°

Source imagery: Maxar

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With plenty of attitude, American paint brand Benjamin Moore gets a bad-boy makeover in their latest showroom by NDB Design Studio located in Jinhua, China. Art and products collide in this space that conveys the brand values and images through a series of impromptu surprises.

Breaking with convention, NDB questioned the common practice of only utilising paint for walls and looked at coating various props throughout the store to fully showcase the performance of the brand’s products. Against the greyish tone of the backdrop, vivid hues evoke sensory experiences and invite interaction. Adopting this experimental approach to the process led to a sense of discovery, as the studio conceived a space of random occurrences and sudden flashes of ideas.

Related: Kaza Israel Showroom by Baranowitz & Goldberg.

Lively paint colours are combined with objects found in daily life – a yoga ball, shoes, stool, raincoat and tiles, to create a seemingly random and unfinished composition. A highlight is the Wassily lounge chair unapologetically painted in half green and white paint sitting next to the broken stool, its painted ceramic tiles strewn across the floor.

The light bulb that provided lighting for the painting process on the site, the masking tape tore off from the painted ceramic tiles, and the structural parts cut from the curved wall for length control are all retained, memories of the spatial creation process.

Related: Fusion • Danilo Paint Showroom in Guangdong, China by JG Phoenix.

Unexpected moments are at every turn, from a half-painted jagged wall to the lucidly painted orange column. Chairs are turned upside down and forms are half painted in organised disarray. Common materials such as wood, stone, leather, steel tube and acrylic are presented in a tactile manner in combination with the paint. Their semi-processed state shows the dramatic fusion and contrast of material textures and paint colours, refining the value of display props.

The functions of space were not pre-set, allowing the open 100-square-metre interior to be used for multiple purposes – exhibitions, socializing, photography and events. With the props being unfixed they can be freely combined to generate various scenes and an infinite amount of possibilities for its use.

Embracing uncertainty, this unlikely paint showroom shakes off preconceived ideas and champions a guerrilla-like process to the design that feels refreshingly unique.

| The article Colour Me Happy: Paint Experience Centre by NDB Design Studio. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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This Overview captures the urban plan of Brasilia, Brazil. The city was founded on April 21, 1960, in order to move the capital from Rio de Janeiro to a more central location within Brazil. The design — resembling an airplane from above — was developed by Lúcio Costa and prominently features the modernist buildings of the celebrated architect Oscar Niemeyer at its center.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3ivnAEs

-15.793888°, -47.882777°

Source imagery: Maxar

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Today we’re excited to announce our first PUZZLE where we turned one of my favorite Overviews — Dutch Tulips — into a mesmerizing (and challenging!) 1000-piece adventure. When complete, the puzzle blooms at a colorful 20x27 inches on recycled paper. Click the link below today to learn more and place an order!

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/653802/overview-puzzle-by-benjamin-grant/

Source imagery: Maxar

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The Cát Bà Archipelago in northern Vietnam is made up of 367 islands that span 100 square miles (260 sq. km) in the southeastern edge of Lan Ha Bay. The largest island — also called Cát Bà — has roughly 13,000 inhabitants, with an additional 4,000 people living on floating fishing villages off the coast as seen here. The island is the adventure-tourism capital of Vietnam, with places to mountain bike, rock climb, hike, and more.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3s0F26H

20.800000°, 106.999722°

Source imagery: Maxar

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Reflecting on the history of architecture will reveal that the discipline is more concerned with religious buildings than any other type. The typology is complex, and places of worship have transformed into inspiration for the architecture of today.

Adopting this idea in a contemporary and innovative manner is Team BLDG‘s latest project, The Field Studio & Exhibition Space. It is intended to be a building that departs from isolation and instead becomes a meditative place of spirituality, religion and community.

Located in a coastal city in the Fijian Province in China, the former aluminium factory, partially renovated in 2019, has been transformed into a creative and modern office park and public areas. It was then that Buddha-artist Jiang Sheng commissioned Team BLDG to reconstruct the volume into a new studio and exhibition.

Having travelled around the world to study the subject, Jiang Sheng is a renowned Buddhist sculpture artist. This purpose-built space was to be used to exhibit Buddha statues and therefore needed to exude a devout atmosphere where architecture is almost invisible. Thus, the building acts as a vessel to carry the sculptural works and extends the essence of Buddhist culture and religion.

Three buildings were constructed as a geometric form to act with different functions. The exterior and interior are rendered in the same sandalwood colour with added texture and depth achieved from a hand-rendered plaster effect. The original building structures were entirely removed, windows blocked out and rooms enclosed.

A large, aged magnolia tree sits in the middle, providing shade to the entire site. The fragrant aroma can be felt even indoors. It is used to guide visitors to enter the exhibition space via a revolving door.

Light was a fundamental component to the design of The Field, with 31 skylights found on the top of the building in round or square shapes. The ‘light’ rain is evident in the double ceiling height exhibition hall and matches the floor-to-ceiling windows extending to the courtyard, blurring the indoor and outdoor spaces. The tiny apertures also create natural spotlights for the statues in the room, refracting light according to the angle of the sun.

In the darkroom, light is diffused to create a hazier effect that complements the transparent materials of glaze and jade that have been used to construct the statues. With little light, the edges of the sculptures are blurred and achieve a Zen and peaceful state.

| The article The Field Studio & Exhibition Space for Buddha Artist by Team BLDG. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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Isla Espíritu Santo and Isla Partida are islands in the Gulf of California, located offshore Baja California Sur, Mexico. Both islands are uninhabited and were once connected, but are now separated by a small canal. Despite pressure from real estate developers to construct a resort on Espíritu Santo, the two islands have been part of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1995.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3hXNEV4

24.471389°, -110.332500°

Source imagery: Planet

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An apartment inherited from a grandparent has been thoughtfully restored and refreshed by Bokey Grant Architects. Named after the initials of the clients, Mary and Ben, MB Apartment updates an interior of a 1960’s blonde brick building that’s been frozen in the same state for 35 years. An opportunity to make their newly acquired space truly their own, the clients commissioned the Sydney architect to truly reflect their personality in the project. In doing so, once a rather cramped apartment with some minor construction flaws, is now graced with a modern and minimalist aesthetic.

Situated in a quiet suburb of Drummoyne, on top of a slope that gives a glimpse of the Sydney CBD skyline and the Harbour Bridge, the 86 square metre floorplan presented with an irregularly shaped footprint housing two bedrooms, one bathroom organised neatly towards the west, living room in the north, and the powder/ laundry, and a near-enclosed large kitchen pinched outwards towards the south-east end.

Working with a limited budget, Bokey Grant maintained the majority of the footprint while simultaneously balancing out oddly rationed spaces. Bedrooms were retained, though one does function as a studio/study space. The former kitchen that once awkwardly consumed the south-end is converted to a pair of benches paralleled to each other effectively connecting to the living room, while the remainder is made into storage – something one can never have too much of.

Reflecting the architect’s refined aesthetics, the walls are painted in a crisp, energetic white while the local hardwood grounds the floor. Peculiar pockets that were once walled-off have been exposed to offer storage for the couple’s musical instruments. The pocket curve at the entrance is mimicked in the newly added shower in the bathroom – neatly lined with white chocolate kit-kat tiles to match the vertical grained joinery and bark-speckled terrazzo. Where there is a curve, the architect wholly embraces it and replicates it with grace.

Taking the clients’ routine into consideration, both who practice and record music and sometimes work into the late hours – an operable wall is introduced in front of the corridor connected to the bedrooms and living space, offering added acoustic insulation. Mechanics of the wall are disguised with a thin lintel-like bulkhead that wraps around the edges of the room before transitioning to a lightly lifted ceiling. Areas that expose some of the unwanted services are neatly tucked away for a clean feel.

Sometimes the greatest statements take a little bit of seeing what possibilities can be hidden within the existing space before completely changing everything. MB Apartments excels in this approach – with subtle gestures that work to accommodate the clients, it speaks volumes on what thoughtfulness and consideration can do within a home.

Related: JJ House in Lilyfield, Sydney by Bokey Grant Architects.

| The article MB Apartment in Drummoyne by Bokey Grant Architects. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |